Heat insulating material



March 2, 1943. c R E ET AL 221523301 VHVEAT INSULATING MATERIAL FiledApril 19, 1940 ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 2, 1943 HEAT INSULATING MATERIALChanning Turner, New Canaan, Conn, and Bernard J. Brady, Yonkers, N. Y.,asslgnors to Alfol Insulation Company, Inc., a corporation of DelawareApplication April 19, 1940, Serial Not'330,462

3 Claims. (Cl. 154-45) This invention relates to heat insulatingmaterial and more particularly to a substantially flat but expansibleform of material containing two or more sheets having folds of excessmaterial and adapted to be rolled up upon itself into a tight roll ofany desired length or to be assembled in any other type of relativelycompact mass so that it can be readilyshipped.

Attempts have been made heretofore'to produce a commerciallysatisfactory rolled form of heat insulating sheet material, but thesehave not proven entirely satisfactory due primarily to the difficulty ofrolling the material into a tight roll without damaging it and thedifiiculty of installing the material in expanded form to effect thedesired heat insulating air spaces between the several sheets of thematerial. This form of heat insulating material usually comprises one ormore sheets of metallic foil or metallized surface sheet which has heatreflective properties and a foundation or base sheet to which the heatreflective sheet material is attached at spaced intervals so as to formair spaces between the foil and base sheets upon expanding the material.

In accordance with the present invention these commercial problems havebeen overcome and there has been produced an entirely satisfactory formof heat insulating sheeted material which will roll up into a tight rollwithout damaging the foil or base sheet and which can be installed veryeasily, requiring only a small transverse expansion of the material atthe time of installation to effect heat insulating air spaces. One ofthe features of this new form of material is that it does not requirefastening to the inside faces of the framing members of a building toeffect expansion of the materialand separation of the several layers toproduce the heat insulating air spaces. On the other hand, the materialof this invention may be fastened to the edge or narrow faces of theframing members such as studs or beams without any difficulty; and withslight lateral expansion will produce a permanent separation between theseveral sheets when the material has been fastened to the edge faces ofthe framing members. Obviously if desired the material may be cut tosheets of desired length and assembled for shipment in the formof arelatively flat compact mass or pack. However, rolling will ordinarilybe preferred.

One of the fundamental principles of the heat insulating material ofthis invention is that the heat reflective sheet hasone or morelongitudinal folds away from the margins so as to cause the heatreflective sheet to lie flat when it is rolled but permitting it to beexpanded to the desired position at the time of installation; and thebase or foundation sheet has longitudinal folds of excess material nearthe margin which proportioned that when the foundation sheet isstretched to a maximum the heat reflective sheet will still be slightlycreased or folded. The natural resistance to bending of the heatreflective sheet will put it under adequate tension to keep it spacedfrom the foundation sheet but no positive strain will be imposed uponthe heat reflective sheet. In some cases the heat reflective sheet maybe connected to the foundation sheet by a member, such as paper, and insuch case the folds may be formed in such connecting member rather than'in the heat reflective sheet itself, but ordinarily we prefer the formdescribed- The marginal bridging members used in the heat insulatingassembly of this invention may be made in various forms and from varioustypes of materials so long as they will lie flat approximately in theplane of the foundation sheet when the foundation sheet is in flat formfor shipment and open up to form a structure which wil1 elevate theheat-reflective sheet from the foundation sheet and maintain an airspace between the heat reflective sheet and the foundation sheet.

The base or foundation sheet used in the heat insulating assembly ofthis invention may be made of any suitable flexible material includingvarious types of paper and fabric or combinations thereof. The heatreflective sheet may be any suitable form of foil such as aluminum foilor any suitable form of flexible sheetmaterial which has been providedwith a heat reflective surface such as coated paper. The sheet materialwhich is to form the bridging element between the base or foundationsheet and the heat reflective sheet will usually be of a similar type ofmaterial to the foundation sheet, but need not be and may be made of anysuitable material including various forms of paper and fabric. Thisbridging sheet material should be folded easilyso as to permit rollingup, but should nevertheless possess'suficient rigidity so that it willmaintain a separation between the base sheet and the heat reflectivesheet when the assembly is expanded. Either or both the bridging sheetand. the foundation sheet may be waterproofed or include water resistantmaterial which would be conducive to forming a vapor barrier for theheat insulating assembly. Likewise the paper may be made flame-proof bytreatment with any suitable chemicals conventionally used for thatpurpose.

Other details of the invention will be more clearly understood from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawingwhich illustrates certain nonlimiting embodiments of the invention andin which.

Fig. 1 is an elevational perspective view of a short length of thepre-assembled heat insulating material in substantially flat, collapsedform;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along lines 2-2 of Fig. 1to illustrate the assembly in partiallyexpanded form;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing the assembly of Fig. 2 in fullyexpanded form;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating in collapsedposition a modified form assembly using a reinforced sheet for thebridging member;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view showing the assembly of Fig. 4 in expandedposition;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view in collapsed position of a similar form ofassembly except that it has two heat reflective sheets; and

Fig. 'I is a sectional view showing the assembly of Fig. 6 in fullyexpanded form.

In the drawing, the numeral I0 represents a base or foundation sheet offibrous material which will ordinarily be some form of paper. Thenumeral II designates a sheet of heat-reflective material, particularlymetallic foil. As shown in Fig. 1 the sheet II lies closely adjacent tothe sheet I0 when the device is folded flat for rolling, but (as shownfor example in Fig. 3) is held spaced from the sheet I0 when thestructure is expanded for installation.

Running longitudinally of the sheet I0 and approximately parallel withits sides are double folds forming openable plaits as indicated at 25.Attached to the backing sheet along each edge is a bridging member 20.The bridging members 20 are here shown as being each formed of a sheetof fibrous material such as paper folded along an approximate centerline, as indicated at 24, to form two legs or side portions. One ofthese legs or side portions is attached to the base sheet III outside ofa plait 25, as indicated at 22, and the other leg is attached to thesheet III inside of the plait 25 as indicated at 2I. A fold or crease 23in the leg nearer to the center permits the bridging member to lie flatapproximately in the plane of the foundation member II) when the deviceis collapsed for rolling. a

By having the legs of each bridging member attached on opposite sides ofa plait 25, it is apparent that when the base or foundation sheet I0 isstretched laterally, the legs of thebridging member are drawn apart toform raised ridges of generally triangular cross-section which extendalong the edges of the base sheet and rise up from the base sheet. Fig.2 shows a plait 25 partly open, with the bridging member starting torise, and Fig. 3 shows the foundation sheet III fully expanded so plait25 has disappeared.

Connected with the foundation sheet III outside of the plaits 25 is aheat-reflective sheet I I which passes over the folds 24 in the bridgingmembers. This heat-reflective sheet II also is/ provided with a plait I2which preferably is formed near the center of the assembly so that itwill not increase the thickness beyond that caused by the bridgingmembers and the plaits 25. We have described the bridging members 20 asbeing two separate strips. This is our preferred form of construction,but if desired, they may be joined together and made integral with areinforcing sheet running across the foundation sheet as indicated at 21in Fig. '7;

The plait 25 in the base sheet I0 provides excess material thatstraightens out when the assembly is expanded laterally. Unfolding ofthis plait 25 permits the necessary movement of the bridging member 20to effect separation between the sheets I0 and II. The proportions andrelations of the base sheet III to the bridging member 20 and foil sheetII are such that on complete and full expansion of sheet I0 no. unduestrain is imposed on the foil sheet II which would cause it to tear orcause the bridgingmember 20 to bend or collapse. It will be noted thatonly one leg of the bridging member 20 overlies the fold 25 in thefoundation member and also it will be noted that the fold I2 in the foilhas been removed from these folds. By arranging these folds so thatthere is a minimum of overlap between them, the sheet is maintained asthin as possible to permit ready rolling.

In Figs. 4 and 5 the bridging member is formed from a reinforced sheet26. This sheet is reinforced to give it the necessary rigidity to serveas a bridging member and also to waterproof the sheet. A commercial formof such paper is socalled sandwich paper having two kraft liners withasphalt inbetween. When the assembly is expanded laterally to its fullform as indicated in Fig. 10 the bridging. sheet 26 assumes asubstantially triangular form with equal sides which provides aneflicient type of separating means for the foil and base sheets.

In the form shown in Figs. 6 and 7 there are two foil sheets I la and IIb. Both of these sheets have plaits l2, which plaits are preferablyformed at different locations so as to avoid any mating of the folds andsticking ortearing of the foil when the sheet is expanded.

As illustrated more clearly in Fig. '7 the foil sheets I la and'I Ib arejoined by adhesive or any other suitable means as indicated at I5, tothe intermediate portions of the inner legs of the bridging sheet 21.This bridging sheet in the expanded form assumes a triangular shape andthe two foil sheets I Ia. and I lb are joined to the two sides of thetriangle as indicated. As indicated, the bridging sheet 21 may expandthe full length of the basesheet I0, although this is not essential.These two sheets may be joined together continuously or only atintervals. In this embodiment the bridging sheet is made of only one plyof paper but which is sufiiciently thick to stated, the structure shouldbe such that no substantial tension is exerted on the foil. However, ifthe parts are so put together that expanding the backing sheet tends toput tension on the foil, the inner leg of each of the bridging memberscan readily collapse to prevent the foil from being torn. However, thestiffness of these legs is sufficient to keep the foil approximatelyfiat. By this construction the foil is maintained under the necessarytension and yet a sufficient strain can be exerted on the foundationsheet to hold it fiat without any danger of tearing the foil.

It will be understood that various substitutions and modifications maybe made in the above described materials and construction Withoutdeparting from the scope of our invention, some of the novel features ofwhich are defined .in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An assembly of heat insulation material and support material adaptedto be shipped in rolled form and to be opened by tension on the sides ofthe support material, comprising a flexible foundation sheet of fibrousmaterial having parallel folds approximately paralleling and adjacentits sides to form openable plaits running the length of the foundationsheet, bridging members consisting of strips of fibrous material foldedlongitudinally to form two legs, one on each side of such fold, eachsuch bridging member having one leg attached to the foundation sheetbetween its edge and the adjacent plait andhavlng the other leg attachedto the foundation sheet between the plait and the center of the sheetand each of the bridging members being folded to lie flat approximatelyin the plane of the foundation sheet so that the foundation heet and thebridging member form an approximately fiat assembly that'can be rolledup, but said bridging members being adapted, when the plaits are openedby stretching the foundation sheet laterally, to open to form ridges oftriangular section running adjacent the edges of the foundation sheet,and further comprising a flexible heat-reflective sheet connected tosaid foundation sheet nearer its edges than said plaits and passing overthe folds in the bridging members so that when the foundation sheet isexpanded laterally and said bridging members are opened, they willspread the body of the heatreflective sheet away from the foundationsheet and hold the two sheets in spaced relation.

2. A structure as specified in claim -1 which comprises a second sheetof heat-reflective material attached toiintermediate portions of thoselegs on the bridging members which are nearest the center of thefoundation sheet so that when the foundation sheet is expanded, suchsecond sheet of heat-reflective material will be held intermediate thefoundation sheet and the first specified sheet of heat-reflectivematerial.

3. A structure as specified in claim 1 in which only one leg of eachbridging member overlies a plait of the foundation sheet and in whichthe heat-reflective material has a longitudinal plait spaced away fromthe plaits in the foundation sheet and from the bridging members wherebythe thickness of the assembly is maintained at a minimum.

CHANNING TURNER. BERNARD J. BRADY.

